


We'll Always Have Paris

by ThetaSigma



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, For who's sake?, Humor, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, how do we swear NOW?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 10:29:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20692019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/ThetaSigma
Summary: Following the averted apocalypse, and their attempted punishments, Aziraphale and Crowley realise that snapping "For God's sake!" or "for Satan's sake!" or "for Heaven's sake!" makes very little sense, as they don't actually align with any of those. Crowley has before just snapped, after getting bogged down with who exactly he's invoking, "Forsomeone'ssake!" but that doesn't have much bite to it. He hits upon a replacement almost immediately.Aziraphale has much more trouble finding a suitable thing to snap in exasperation, but eventually, he gets it just right.





	We'll Always Have Paris

Following the Armagedd-waitnevermind, Aziraphale and Crowley were not exactly welcome back in Heaven or Hell. Either of them, in either place, and that  _ not exactly welcome _ was a little stricter than it had ever been, because of course, neither of them were ever  _ particularly _ welcome there. 

Similarly, the Head Offices of both had washed their hands of the renegades, and while neither being was removed of angel or demon status, or given another, or anything like that, they were also paying only the requisite amount of attention to the two. Just enough to make sure they didn’t unbalance the whole thing, really.

So it felt very weird for Aziraphale or Crowley to say “for God’s sake!” or “for Satan’s sake!” or “what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” or “heavens no!” or anything like that.

Crowley, of course, had struggled with this even before the apocalypse that wasn’t, having once or twice just gone with “for SOMEBODY’S sake!” and giving it up as a bad job. But shouting “for  _ somebody’s _ sake!” didn’t sound the same, and working it out of their language entirely was nigh on impossible.

Crowley hit upon a solution, for him, anyway, and began saying, “for angel’s sake!” Many people misheard this as “for  _ angels _ sake”, with angel being plural, as opposed to referring to a very specific one. He never corrected them. 

Aziraphale, upon first hearing it, had had to turn away so that no one could see the smile that broke onto his face and stubbornly stayed there. (He didn’t want anyone to see that, right then, because he and Crowley were very much united in upbraiding some people who rather needed to be taught a lesson, and grinning like a besotted fool rather took away from that).

Aziraphale had tried, following that, to bark “for demon’s sake!” but it sounded rather silly, and more than a little offensive, especially since, of course, that wasn’t a pet name for Crowley. Crowley had merely scowled and shaken his head at Aziraphale, and he’d quickly abandoned that. He tried “for angel’s sake!”, but that sounded even sillier, especially since he was the angel in question. “For my sake!” didn’t sound nearly as exasperated; it sounded haughty. Crowley offered no help, saying that Aziraphale would either hit on his own substitution, continue to use God’s name, or simply stop saying for  _ anyone’s _ sake and show exasperation in other ways.

But one day, it just… came to him, exactly as Crowley had said. And so, one day, when particularly exasperated (with Crowley, as it happens), Aziraphale barked out, "oh, for Paris' sake!"

That rather threw Crowley out of the argument they were having. "What?" he asked. "Paris? Why  _ Paris?" _

Aziraphale fidgeted. "Well, dearest," he said finally. "Because that moment, in Paris, when that awful man was going to behead me, and all of a sudden there you were, stopping time to ask me what I had been  _ thinking _ , and saving me - hush, we can say it now, you rescued me," Aziraphale added, sensing Crowley's objection. "Well, in that moment, I was so happy to see  _ you,  _ and not because I would've been happy to see  _ anyone _ who saved me, I was just happy to see  _ you _ . I remember thinking to myself, 'it's going to be fine, Crowley's here'. And I rather think that was the moment I first realised I love you."

Crowley felt his eyes go watery. “Oh,  _ angel _ ,” he whispered, fairly overcome. The stupid disagreement they were having was completely forgotten. “Angel,” he repeated, wrapping his arms around Aziraphale and holding on tight. 

“Did I get it right, love?” Aziraphale asked, wrapping his arms around Crowley and holding on just as tight.

The nod he felt against his neck told him he got it  _ very _ right.

**Author's Note:**

> Crowley finally exploding with "for SOMEBODY'S sake!" when he's in the burning bookshop made me wonder just what they'd say in exasperation after their punishments, and while Crowley's was very very easy (painfully obvious, really), Aziraphale's took quite a bit of thought. And then it hit me, well of course that moment in Paris. (I think, by the way, the next time Aziraphale realised just how much he loved Crowley was when Crowley hopped into the church to save him from Nazis, ignoring just how much it was burning his feet, then created a demonic miracle to save the books. The very sight of Crowley hopping in probably warmed Aziraphale completely, but that Crowley remembered the books even when Aziraphale forgot... well, the angel would always take that as a sign that Crowley loved him completely. At least I think so).


End file.
